


A Cat-Free Zone

by collartothewind



Category: Original Work
Genre: Cats, Dragons, Extra Treat, First Meetings, Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-12
Updated: 2020-02-12
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:07:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22672276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/collartothewind/pseuds/collartothewind
Summary: Jessie makes an unexpected acquaintance. The acquaintance has scales.
Relationships: Cat-Loving Woman Allergic To Cats & Catlike Dragon
Comments: 10
Kudos: 24
Collections: Chocolate Box - Round 5





	A Cat-Free Zone

**Author's Note:**

  * For [wavewright62](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wavewright62/gifts).



It was the feeling of being watched that made Jessie pause, midway through doing the dishes, elbow-deep in soap suds. She glanced all around the kitchen, but there was, thankfully, nobody there. Her small ground-floor apartment was her sanctuary, and she rarely had visitors.

She turned her attention back to the dishes, but the feeling persisted. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she registered a flash of movement through the open window to her right. It was a silvery blur, about the size of a cat, flying through the air as though it had jumped off her garden fence. She peered out, but couldn't see anything. It was only when she'd once again started washing a plate that the silvery blur reappeared, this time leaping up onto the windowsill. It was definitely a cat - a beautiful, light grey, lithe-bodied cat with bright green eyes.

Jessie took a second to admire it, then sighed and reached out to shut the window, knowing that she couldn't risk the cat coming into the apartment. It just wasn't worth the coughing and wheezing that she'd be left with, or the angry red hives that would break out on her skin. 

"Sorry kitty," she said as she grasped the window handle. "This is a cat-free zone." But the cat didn't listen, and instead of moving out of the way so that she could shut the window, it squeezed through the gap and pushed its way into the kitchen, landing squarely on the counter. 

"No, kitty, you have to…" Jessie started to say, already wondering how she was going to get the cat out without touching it, but she stopped talking when she noticed something strange. The cat, now that it was closer to her, didn't seem to have fur. It wasn't hairy at all, and when she squinted, she could see that its body was covered instead with tiny, shining scales. 

"What the…" Jessie blinked. Was this some sort of new breed she hadn't heard of? A hypoallergenic breed, perhaps. No doubt one of those cost thousands of dollars, she'd never be able to afford it. There was no collar on its neck though, and no identity tag, which seemed strange.

The cat tilted its head to the side, looking at her, then turned and started to gaze around the kitchen. It stepped over to the sink, and lowered its nose to sniff at the bubbles in the water. 

"Wait, you won't like that!" Jessie said, but she was too late. The bubbles got onto the cat's nose and it backed up, pawing at its face to get rid of them. Even when the bubbles were gone, the animal's little face screwed up in distaste, and then it sneezed.

Jessie gaped. It wasn't a typical sort of sneeze. Typical sneezes didn't cause tiny sparks of fire to shoot out of cats' noses, or leave them puffing little grey smoke clouds afterwards.

This was very, very strange.

The animal looked at her warily, as though she had caused the bubbles to attack it. Automatically, she reached her hand out and offered it to the animal to show it that she was safe. The fact that the animal might not be safe to her only occurred to her afterwards, but by that point the cat had turned its face into her palm and was rubbing its oddly smooth cheek on her. It gave a soft, contented little snort, and another tiny puff of smoke emerged.

Jessie tried to figure out what exactly she was seeing, or to be more precise, what she was stroking. Before she could, though, the animal decided to move. It stepped to the edge of the counter, and she expected it to jump off onto the floor, but instead…

"No way," Jessie breathed, as a pair of small wings unfolded from the animal's back, and it glided into the air. She followed it, transfixed, as it flew into her living room, landed on her couch, and looked back at her. 

"That's not normal," Jessie said, sitting down next to the creature to get a better look at its wings. She expected it to fly away again, but instead it climbed onto her lap, turned around in a circle three times, and then settled down into a tight ball, resting its head on her knee, as though settling in for the afternoon. She reached down and stroked it again, and its small, rough tongue poked out and licked her hand.

"I guess you've decided to stay here for a while, then?" Jessie asked, and the animal seemed to burrow even further into her lap. It was a warm, comforting weight, and as she stroked the creature, she realized she wasn't wheezing, or coughing. Her eyes didn't itch, and her nose wasn't running. She wasn't allergic at all.

This creature definitely wasn't normal, but then again, Jessie had often thought normal was overrated.


End file.
